1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a method for utilizing an online anode pressure bias to maximize a bleed velocity of an anode of a fuel cell stack while staying within the hydrogen emission constraint and, more particularly, a model based approach to determine the anode pressure set-point based on existing airflow in an exhaust gas line.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Hydrogen is a very attractive fuel because it is clean and can be used to efficiently produce electricity in a fuel cell. A hydrogen fuel cell is an electro-chemical device that includes an anode and a cathode with an electrolyte therebetween. The anode receives hydrogen gas and the cathode receives oxygen or air. The hydrogen gas is dissociated in the anode to generate free protons and electrons. The protons pass through the electrolyte to the cathode. The protons react with the oxygen and the electrons in the cathode to generate water. The electrons from the anode cannot pass through the electrolyte, and thus are directed through a load to perform work before being sent to the cathode.
Proton exchange member fuel cells (PEMFC) are a popular fuel cell for vehicles. The PEMFC generally includes a solid polymer electrolyte proton conducting membrane, such as a perfluorosulfonic acid membrane. The anode and cathode typically include finely divided catalytic particles, usually platinum (Pt), supported on carbon particles and mixed with an ionomer. The catalytic mixture is deposited on opposing sides of the membrane. The combination of the anode catalytic mixture, the cathode catalytic mixture and the membrane define a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). MEAs are relatively expensive to manufacture and require certain conditions for effective operation.
Several fuel cells are typically combined in a fuel cell stack to generate the desired power. For example, a typical fuel cell stack for a vehicle may have two hundred or more stacked fuel cells. The fuel cell stack receives a cathode input reactant gas, typically a flow of air forced through the stack by a compressor. Not all of the oxygen is consumed by the stack and some of the air is output as a cathode exhaust gas that may include water as a stack by-product. The fuel cell stack also receives an anode hydrogen reactant gas that flows into the anode side of the stack. The stack also includes flow channels through which a cooling fluid flows.
The fuel cell stack includes a series of bipolar plates positioned between the several MEAs in the stack, where the bipolar plates and the MEAs are positioned between the two end plates. The bipolar plates include an anode side and a cathode side for adjacent fuel cells in the stack. Anode gas flow channels are provided on the anode side of the bipolar plates that allow the anode reactant gas to flow to the respective MEA. Cathode gas flow channels are provided on the cathode side of the bipolar plates that allow the cathode reactant gas to flow to the respective MEA. One end plate includes anode gas flow channels, and the other end plate includes cathode gas flow channels. The bipolar plates and end plates are made of a conductive material, such as stainless steel or a conductive composite. The end plates conduct the electricity generated by the fuel cells out of the stack. The bipolar plates also include flow channels through which a cooling fluid flows.
The MEAs are permeable where nitrogen in the air from the cathode side permeates and collect in the anode side of the stack, referred to in the industry as nitrogen cross-over. Even though the anode side pressure may be higher than the cathode side pressure, the cathode side partial pressures will cause air to permeate through the membrane. Nitrogen in the anode side of the fuel cell stack dilutes the hydrogen such that if the nitrogen concentration increases beyond a certain percentage, such as 50%, the fuel cell stack becomes unstable and may fail. It is known in the art to provide a bleed valve at the anode exhaust gas output of the fuel cell stack to remove nitrogen from the anode side of the stack.
An algorithm may be employed to provide an online estimation of the nitrogen concentration in the anode exhaust gas during stack operation to determine when to trigger the anode exhaust gas bleed. The algorithm may track the nitrogen concentration over time in the anode side of the stack based on the permeation rate from the cathode side to the anode side, and the periodic bleeds of the anode exhaust gas. When the algorithm calculates an increase in the nitrogen concentration above a predetermined threshold, for example 10%, it may trigger the bleed. The bleed is typically performed for a duration that allows multiple stack anode volumes to be bled, thus reducing the nitrogen concentration below the threshold.
The membrane within a fuel cell needs to have a certain relative humidity so that the ionic resistance across the membrane is low enough to effectively conduct protons. This humidification may come from the stack water by-product or external humidification. The flow of hydrogen through the anode gas flow channels has a drying effect on the membrane, most noticeably at an inlet of the hydrogen flow. However, the accumulation of water droplets within the anode gas flow channels from the membrane relative humidity and water by-product could prevent hydrogen from flowing therethrough, and cause the cell to fail because of low reactant gas flow, thus affecting the stack stability. The accumulation of water in the reactant gas flow channels is particularly troublesome at low stack output loads. Anode gas bleeds of nitrogen, in addition to removing excess nitrogen, helps reduce the accumulation of water in the reactant gas flow channels.
One known anode exhaust gas bleed control algorithm determines the duration of the bleed based on a fixed time. Typically, the bleed duration and bleed frequency is determined for different current density ranges of the stack, but which are fixed values through the life of the stack. During an anode bleed event, the rate of hydrogen flow to the exhaust and the resulting velocity in the anode flow channels is a function of the pressure drop across the bleed valve. To ensure that a predetermined hydrogen emission constraint is not violated, for example, 4% total molar flow of hydrogen, the anode pressure is predetermined based on stack current density, assuming nominal airflow, using a look-up table (LUT).
The problem with using a look-up table is that under certain operating conditions, such as low power operation, this approach does not take into account airflow that is bypassing the stack, and thus, provides a lower anode channel flow velocity than is necessary to meet the hydrogen emission constraint. Utilizing the highest anode channel flow velocity possible without violating the hydrogen emission constraint is desirable because the greater the anode channel velocity, the greater the amount of water that is purged from the anode flow channels.